Montclair, NJ – Senior righthander
ANTHONY DEBLASIO pitched eight solid innings and
NICK MARTINEZ drove in five runs in the opener helping Montclair State earn a split of its NJAC doubleheader with Rutgers-Camden at Yogi Berra Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Martinez finished with six RBI on the afternoon as the Red Hawks (18-14, 6-7 NJAC) captured the first game 8-1 before falling to the Raptors (20-11, 9-5 NJAC) in the second contest, 7-5.
DeBlasio (2-0) scattered nine hits and allowed an unearned run with two strikeouts. Despite the strong outing, he found himself locked in a 1-1 ball game until the seventh inning when Montclair scored twice to take the lead.
JOE NORTON doubled down the right field line with two outs and scored when
HAYDEN REYES punched singled through the right side of the infield giving the Red Hawks a 2-1 lead. Reyes took second on the throw home which became significant as he came around on a Martinez single giving MSU a two-run lead.
Montclair but distance between itself and the Raptors in the eighth with five runs.
JUSTIN BATES doubled home
BRODY LABBE and later scored on a passed ball for a 5-1 lead. An error with two outs kept the inning goal and the Red Hawks took advantage as Martinez belted a three-run double giving MSU an 8-1 lead.
Martinez finished 3-for-5 while Norton had two hits for MSU, which had 10 in the game.
In the second game, Brandon Cornelius's RBI single in the first gave Rutgers-Camden an early lead however Montclair answered in the bottom of the first with two runs on RBI singles by
IAN LYNCH and
CHRIS ROTH.
A Martinez run-scoring ground out extended the lead to 3-1 in the third however the Raptors made it a 3-2 ballgame in the sixth as Cornelius scored on a wild pitch. Rutgers-Camden then took advantage of a two-out error with four runs to take the lead in the seventh. R.J. Concepcion cleared the bases with a double following the MSU miscue to put the Raptors in front 5-3. Cornelius followed with a ground-rule double as Rutgers-Camden went in front by three.
Montclair State closed the gap in its half of the seventh.
ANDREW OLLWERTHER singled in the first run and Reyes scored with two outs as a potential inning-ending pop up fell to the ground as two infielders collided while making the play. The got the score to 6-5 however that's where the score would stay as reliever Vince Sturtevant got a fly out to strand the tying run on third.
Concepcion came up with an insurance run in the ninth as he slapped a two-out single through the right side scoring Matthew Stoots.
Sturtevant (3-0) got the victory as he pitched the final four innings allowing three hits and two runs (one earned). Lefthander
BRIAN REISS (3-2) took the loss despite allowing just two earned runs in 8 2/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked one.
Reyes and Ollwerther had three hits apiece for MSU.
The Red Hawks are back in action on Sunday, April 22 with an 11:30 am NJAC contest in Jersey City, NJ. MSU and New Jersey City will complete their home-and-home series at the Thomas M. Gerrity Complex in a makeup of Thursday's rainout. Montclair won the first meeting at Yogi Berra Stadium on Friday evening, 12-5.
